The organic approach: The way ahead in employee participation

As the debate on participation has proceeded over the past eight years, two distinct streams of thought have emerged. One favours an imposed system, brought about by the law; the other favours the organic approach, starting informally from small beginnings but with no preconceived limits on how far it might ultimately spread. Although it may appear that the eight years of skirmishing in Britain have produced no concrete result, in fact they have been extremely productive in that they have clarified ideas on the subject to the point where the choice is now seen to lie between two well‐defined paths forward. In this article we consider the impact of the political situation on these two alternatives and argue that the imposed solution is not likely in the current political climate and that this gives the trainer the opportunity to initiate the organic approach.